The Sunday CD Challenge - Spring has Sprung

Hi,

I am very late with this card, but I have had a very very bad cold over the last couple of weeks. I had a phone call from Sheila my sister in law who asked why I had not put anything on my blog for over a week, well sheila I hope you enjoy this card and will you come back again on Sunday for the tatting piece which I am putting together for International Tatting Day.

We have had some beautiful weather in Somerset this last week, the sun has had his hat on and its been lovely to wake up to sunshine and some warmth at last.

I struggled in Cheese and Grain last weekend, and as the morning went on I found I had conjunctivitis in my left eye and then woke up the next morning with it in both eyes, apart from the market being quite I did reasonably well. I am this week doing a craft fair in Midsommer Norton for Children with Diabetics, I hope we have a good morning.

Now to my card for this week, Spring has Sprung, I used the Furry Friends CD, from the Squeeze Cards group of Cd's. The picture is called A Quick Chat, instead of the card being on its own, I have put it on a blank peach card, added some yellow ribbon from stock, I think it might have come from a free pack from a magazine. I knitted two small daffodils and placed them on the card in each corner. We have two birthdays over the next week so it will be used for one of them.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, and enjoy what is left of the gorgeous weather we have been having before the cold returns next week.

Until we meet again Take care

Hugs

Margaret

Esty Anniversary

Hi,
I have had my Esty shop for a whole year so as part of the anniversary I have a promotion for two weeks starting today until 31st March 2012, to all customers new and old and all followers of my blog.
I am offering 10% off when purchasing anything from my Esty Shop using coupon code ..... annivshopdiscount.
Follow the link in my sidebar for my Esty shop.
Have a nice day
Hugs
Margaret

Happy Mothers Day

Hi,

Happy Mothers Day, this is the card I am giving to my mother. The image is from Joana Sheen's CD The Royal Horticultural Society CD Collection
She likes orchids and I thought she would like this image. I have backed the card with matching paper from the Cd, placed it on two silver pieces of card and put a pale pink ribbon and bow down the side, finished off with silver peel offs.
I had a big surprise on Thursday night, we went over to Gary's (Vernon's step son although we do use the word step, hes a son to us and they treat us as parents) for tea, I was given a gorgeous Mothers Day card and a Pink Gerbera Plant, with the most lovely message inside, I had a few tears well up, I was not expecting anything from them, it was a lovely surprise.
It was also nice to Bethany our grand daughter, we spent ages talking about Tatting, she really taken to it and I think we have a tatter for the future, she already designing bits as she learns.
Have a lovely day, and until we meet again Take care
Hugs
Margaret

Happy St Patricks Day

Hi,
Happy St Patricks Day.
Today I bring you Saint Patricks Day Shamrock Earrings, these were designed by Rachel from The Piney Woods Tatter link here
Rachel designed these earrings back in 2004 and posted them again as a free pattern last week.
Rachel is a needle tatter, she makes some gorgeous items please follow the link and visit her blog its very interesting. As I am not a needle tatter, I sat down and work with the pattern into a shuttle tatting pattern, actually it was not difficult to do. Rachel has given me permission to put the shuttle pattern onto my pattern blog for you all. For those who do not do tatting, there are two ways of tatting either with a needle or a shuttle.
The top pair of earrings are in dark green Flora thread no 20, I find this thread hard to work and I don't use it very often.
This pair are in a lighter green, (although the picture looks more blue than green, it is green) Coats thread no 20, both have the same shade of green bead.
Its a lovely pattern and I can see me making quite a few of these earrings.
You will find the shuttle pattern on my pattern blog, there is a link in my sidebar for the pattern blog.
Thank you Rachel for a gorgeous pattern and allowing me to put the alternative tatting pattern on my pattern blog.
Have a lovely St. Patricks day.
Until we meet again Take Care
Hugs
Margaret

I am a Lhasa Apso Lover

Hi,
Another dull day, I think we have only seen the sun once or twice in the last week in Somerset.
I have been over the moon all week, I am a Lhasa Apso lover, what you say, whats an Lhasa Apso, well its a breed of dog.
It was a Lhasa Apso who won Crufts last weekend, she won the top prize as best in show, its years since a Lhasa Apso has won crufts.
I have had four of them, first it was Happy she was black and white, her show name was Happiness. We then got Lucy she was cream and beige. Then we had Shona, her show name was Shoolin and she was black and white, and finally Avanti (who turned into Mothers dog) which in Italian means forward or come in, she was all black with a touch of white down her front.
Lhasa Apsos come from Tibet and they are the only dogs to be allowed into a Tibetan Monasteries and were kept by the Dalai Lama the hereditary ruler of Tibet. It is believed that the souls of the monks when they die going into these dogs, they are very well respected and prized. A lot of people cut their cuts short but really they should be left long and flowing, their hair is the nearest dogs hair to humans. I never brought dog shampoo for them I used what I had my hair, it was far better than any shampoo made for a dog and kept their coats in better condition. They make wonderful guard dogs, and they hear things long before some of the breeds for guarding. They are lovely dogs and very loving, if you don't feel like going for a walk they are kept happy to stay at home with their master.
When we saw her on breakfast television on Tuesday morning I told Vernon that if we get a dog, I am having another Lhasa Apso.
When I moved in with Vernon before we got married 10 years ago, I had a dog called Haie she had a french name meaning fence or hedge (she was a Belgium Griffon) at that time I was unable to get a Lhasa Apso so I settled for a Belgium Griffon. She unfortunately died within four weeks of us moving in, Vernon did not want another dog then but I told her then if anything happen to him, he would walk out one door and a dog would walk in another.
Shortly after she died Mother lost Avanti, and when she went back to the kennels for a replacement they only had two sisters who turned out to be from Haie's last litter, Gertie and Gussie.
We did say when we retired we would have a dog, its going to be Lhasa Apso.
The card above has an image of a Lhasa Apso, I did not colour it in as I felt it was better in black and white, I brought the Digi image from Imag-e-nation.
I am a bit late with this post I was going to write this a couple of days ago, I hope you have enjoyed my piece on my favorite bred of dog.
I hope you have a lovely weekend. until we meet again take care
Hugs
Margaret

The Sunday CD Challenge - From Me to You

Hi,
What a dull day, we have had fog/mist all day, don't know where the sun has gone, yesterday was lovely. I did some washing today but it was no good putting it out, the fog made it really damp outside. My new washing machine seems to be working well, but the washing seems to take so long to wash, I tried the super wash button today, well it was quicker but still longer than my old one.
Today I am bring you my card for the Sunday CD Challenge, link here. This week the theme is "From me to you", well Popcorn the Bear was the first thing I thought of, so here he is. I used Popcorn bear CD by Crafters Companion, I have decoupaged him, and used the same backing paper from the CD. I have put gold peel offs in the corners and down the side, a light blue ribbon bow. I used the smallest image as a tag and wrote on it "From me to You"
Now for the finishing touches this week, I made a tatted lace strip, I had these in my Esty store a few months ago, this one is made with Lizbeth thread no 20 called Turquoise Twist. I have sewn it on the card at the back. If anyone would like some strips I do make them in any colour and to the length required for the card, tatting cannot be cut once its made so I make them to fit the card.

I hope you had a good weekend and enjoying the so called sunshine the weather men say some of us are having. So if you have the sun enjoy because some of us are under a veil of fog.
Until we meet again take care
Hugs
Margaret

The Sunday CD Challenge - Imagine

Hi,
Its been a lovely day with sunshine, not very warm though, they say its going to get warmer towards the weekend.
My new washing machine arrived today at least I can do some washing, our friends Ruth and Mervyn let me do a load at the beginning of the week, but I have a few items I want to do over the weekend.
Today I am showing my card for the Sunday CD Challenge, link here to the blog. I am a little bit late with this card, I am just in time for this challenge. This is week it is Imagine, I used Joanna Sheen's CD Enchanted Dreams. I have not used this image before, the backing paper is the matching paper to the image.
I added two yellow flowers and wrapped the green ribbon bows amongst the flowers for a change. I matted the image on a pale yellow miri sheet and used fancy scissors to cut around the shape. I then added green/gold peel offs down the sides and corners.
I was surprised how many comments I got on my card last week, I did not think that using a piece of lace from my old knickers would prove so interesting and the card got a joint second, I was really shocked it got anything let alone a second.

I hope you are keeping well and not down with the bugs that are floating around at the moment.
Until we meet again take care.
Hugs
Margaret

I have been given an Award

Hi,

I have been given an award from Carol, link to her blog I was very surprised and delighted to be given this award, she says I inspire her, nice to know I inspire someone. Thank you Carol for the award.

Now I have to pass the award onto five people who inspire me, oh this was hard, they have to have less than 200 followers on their blogs. Ladies it was hard but I hope the following will accept my award to them, as they have all inspired me at different times.

1st Janette - Little-boscraftyplace, she got me into having a blog and its your fault Vernon reckons I spend too much time with my blog.

2nd Wendy - Umi and Tsuru, Wendy is in Singapore and has given given so much inspiration with my tatting. She also test tatted a pattern for me and I still have to get is on the paper so I can sell it in my Esty store.

3rd Rachel - The Piney Woods Tatter, Rachel is in the US inspiration flows from her blow and her tatting is a joy, I won one of her giveaways and its the most beautiful pendant.

4th Frivole - Le Blog de Frivole another tatting blog whose inspiration is brilliant. She designed the Happy heart which I put on my blog last week.

5th Tilly - Tillyscraftycorner She leaves me wonderful comments, makes some gorgeous cards and what more can I say.

There was two other people who I would have loved to give this award unfortunately one had more than 200 followers and the other does not accept awards.

I hope that all the above accept their awards and puts them on their blogs and pass the awards onto five other blogs who also inspire them.

Until we meet again Take Care

Hugs

Margaret

Hi I'm back

Hi,
Vernon and I spent a few days away, as usual we go away in March up to Sheffield, the reason is known only to family and very close friends. This year the weather was perfect, real spring days in fact it was so warm we were walking around in just our tops with no coat or cardigans. There were crocuses out in flower, daffodils coming out by the roadside, the sun was shining, I really beautiful few days.
I do have what I call some retail therapy in Meadow Hall, which is just outside of Sheffield. If you have never been to Meadow Hall all I can say is its big, There is every store there you can think of and more, its so big we still have not seen it all. The pictures I took are from House of Frazer in Meadow Hall, all I can say hes been there so long peddling, hes lost a lot of weight? When I saw him I had to get a picture he look so funny, hope you enjoy the pictures.
On Friday we went into Worksop, we usually stay at the Travel Lodge just outside Worksop, why its cheaper than staying in Sheffield and its only 15 miles out of Sheffield. I have never seen such a large market in this country before, Worksop has a long pedestrian shopping center and the market went from one end to the other.
Then we had a drive though the countryside and had a look at a village which I had a cousin lived in, I had never seen her, she saw me when I was three weeks old, when she died some years ago her son wrote to me to tell me she had died. In the letter he said she had fond memories of me, funny I had never meet her, anyway we went and had drive to see this village where she lived, Charlton in Limerick, very pretty little village, they had a post office, fish and chip shop, pub and restaurant and what looked a gorgeous church. I did not get to look at the church, her husband was once the vicar there. On our travels we passed a wood, with a gate, well lets put it this way there was no fence, wall, or hedge, just this gate standing proud by the roadside. It just looked a bit odd why bother to open a gate when you could walk either side of it.
Today the weather has changed, its windy and cold, this morning we had rain, then sleet with some snow and now the sun is shining. Not the sort of day to go out, but my washing machine packed up before we went away, so we went and brought a new one, delivery is Thursday, I am hoping for a few fine days to catch up on the washing when it comes.
If you were wondering what I did I had another go at my knitted cloth, its been sitting on the floor by my settee for months, so as Vernon drove I knitted, I worked out that I have 1,152 stitches, not many, I did 5 rounds going up and I was on my third coming back when disaster struck, the needle broke, they are old and have been used a lot, but the plastic end of the round broke off, spilling stitches, luckily there was a lay by so Vernon stopped while I tried to pick up and sort out the stitches. Last night I got out another round needle and transferred the stitches on to it. I hope I have not lost any, tonight I will finish the round and try and do another to check its OK. I also designed two pairs of earrings in tatting, and knitted another square for mothers blanket, I just have to knit another white one and do the edging for it. I will show you the blanket and the cloth when they are finished. The cloth will be going into my Esty store.
I hope you are OK and the world is treating you OK, I was given an award for my blog while I was away from Carol, thank you Carol, I will put it on my blog another day and find five blogs that are worthy of passing the award onto.
In the meantime, take care until we meet again
Hugs
Margaret

Happy Heart

Hi,

This is a scheduled post, today I have my Happy Heart. The Pattern is by J Paulson (2012) link to blog which the pattern has been published http://www.leblogdefrivole.blogspot.com
This is a lovely pattern and has already become a favorite with me, I hope you like the colour I found it a very easy pattern to do. Do pop over to her blog there are some lovely tatted items being shown on there.
Its two years today since I started my blog, its been an interesting two years and this is the 233 post, I am looking forward to many more years.
Until we meet again in blog land take care and have a lovely weekend.
Hugs
Margaret